A Spring of Joy

Worshipping with my children this morning, I fix breakfast while the music plays. It is hard to focus on bagels when the melodies course through our kitchen. “Hallelujah! Grace like rain pours down on me. Hallelujah! All my stains are washed away, they’re washed away!” My eyes close. I cannot keep my mind on the task at hand. My hands must raise, lifted in praise to my God. The task at hand is worship! My children sing with me, little voices floating through the kitchen. My eyes well with tears. Prayers lifted for their hearts to run when mercy calls, that they would bask in the grace that overflows into our lives. So much grace. So undeserving. There is no other response than praise.

Heard around our home:
While wrapped in Daddy’s arms, a soft sigh is followed by a six-year-old voice, “Daddy, I hope I never get too old for snuggling.”

Seen around our home:
The rosy glow of a sunrise filling our loft with dim light. I tiptoe out of my room hoping I won’t wake little ones only to find a blond head burrowed beneath blankets. “Mom, I’m watching the sun come up over the mountains.” Then a wonderful half hour of watching day arrive with my Bear.

Felt around our home:
Puddles. Tears and my melting heart everywhere.

I’m afraid there was a terrible accident the other day at the hospital. While Angie was receiving her daily dose of radiation something unexpected happened…

I know, I know. An update on how radiation is going is long overdue. I think the dullness of the routine has kept me from even knowing what to write. There’s not a whole lot to share about going to the cancer center every day, lying on a table and letting them burn me from the inside out. I know all the staff by name, and we joke about weird things like Bob Ross, the afro-headed artist on PBS, with his “happy little green and happy little trees.” The techs all love my fun socks that I wear, and I have many of you to thank for that. I received so many pairs of socks as gifts, and I love them all!

I am so thankful for God’s faithfulness today. God has brought me through so much more than I could even imagine. And His mercies are new every morning. I thought about that this morning as I woke to an Easter sunrise. He is risen. He makes all things new. I have so much to celebrate in the life of my Savior. Only He has conquered death, and because of Him, so have I.

He is risen, my friends. He is risen indeed.

I just can’t get enough of this face!

I received an email in my inbox by one of Brian’s secret admirers. He knows nothing about computers, so he asked me to post it on my blog. He wrote this as a response to my 100 Things I Love About Brian entry. So, ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together and give a warm welcome to guest blogger, Joe.

10 Things I Wonder About Brian

(I will not match Angie’s 100 “things” not because I lack ammunition, but time. And I am free to do this because they both know I love them more than the day is long.)

That smile. That smile.
It’s going fast.
Do you think
That smile will last?

Ash has his first loose tooth, and I had to pick my heart up off the floor and put it back into my chest when we discovered it. He is growing up much too quickly for my taste. Stop it, son! Just stop it!

On a different note, anybody know what the going rate for the tooth fairy is these days?

This weekend is my hubby’s birthday. I can’t tell you how much I love that man! Here’s a start… just a start… there’s so much more I could say. (WARNING: Extreme sappiness ahead!)

1. I love his smile.
2. I love the twinkle in his eyes when he’s teasing me.
3. I love his laugh…the way it rolls through his whole body.
4. I love the curls and waves in his hair.
5. I love the feel of his arms around me.
6. I love the safe and secure feeling he gives me when we’re together.

In his book, Glory Revealed, David Nassar shares a story that he’d heard. I don’t know if it’s fictional or not, but it made an impact on me when I read it today. He tells of a man who just bought a classic Bentley in pristine condition. Extremely excited about his purchase, he was inordinately choosey when it came to his chauffeur. He interviewed three very qualified candidates rigorously. Each was given the same driving test. He placed an orange cone in the middle of his helipad and instructed the drivers to swerve as close as they could without hitting it. The first driver got three inches from the cone and never used his brakes. The second driver brought the car so close that the cone shook from the draft. How on earth would the third driver top that? The third driver climbed in, drove across the helipad and avoided the cone by thirty yards. When asked why by the owner, the chauffeur told him that if the goal was to not hit the cone, why even flirt with hitting it but rather avoid the danger? He was hired on the spot.